April 9, 2011 9:50 pm

Standing in line for a “Biggest Loser” audition in Salt Lake City in 2009, Tracy Chan was served a heaping helping of reality.

She was the 547th person in a line that included a nearby woman polishing off a box of donuts and others ordering pizzas. And it seemed as if another 1,000 people were waiting behind her.

Chan, a 44-year-old Milton resident, thought she was a perfect candidate for the NBC show. She was 5-foot-7, 368 pounds, and she had a compelling story that included her husband’s death after a battle with cancer. But after waiting eight hours for a 15-minute group interview, Chan knew the odds weren’t in her favor.

“That’s when it hit me,” she said. “I can’t wait for some fairy to take me to the land of skinny. I have to do it myself.”

Chan never made it on the show, but two years later she finds herself in the middle of a different kind of weight-loss competition at Fircrest’s Innovative Fitness. She’s shedding pounds as part of the gym’s annual Biggest Winner Team Fitness Challenge.

Chan has worked with trainers Jesse Ewell and Shane Simmons since April 2010 and recently weighed in at 228 pounds. She lost 25 of those pounds during the first half of the competition.

Chan’s weight started spirally out of control when her world unraveled in 2002. Her husband, Tony, was diagnosed with cancer, launching an emotional roller coaster ride.

For seven years, Chan’s intense days included a full-time job at a Sumner toy company; taking her daughter, Nakayla, to swimming practice; and no time to take care of herself.

But when Tony died in 2009 and she was left as a single parent, the light bulb went on. If she was going to be there for Nakayla, she needed to lose weight. A lot of weight.

She set a goal of losing 200 pounds and held tight to the memory of her husband for motivation.

“My husband was a very incredible man, and he fought so hard to be alive,” Chan said. “So I have no excuse but to get my bottom over to the gym.”

She joined a small gym in Milton where at first she could barely ride a stationary bike for five minutes. Chan had some success, but the real breakthrough came when, at the recommendation of a friend, she went to Innovative Fitness.

On any given day, supremely fit athletes can be found at the training studio perfecting their already fine-tuned bodies, so Chan was pretty sure she wouldn’t fit in.

“I was so nervous I almost puked,” Chan said.

But Ewell quickly put her at ease. The studio’s owner helped Chan lay out a program that was about more than just losing weight.

“A lot of people can lose 20 pounds, but all they are is the same person 20 pounds lighter,” Ewell said. “That’s what makes us different. We’re about helping people change from the inside out, not the outside in.”

“The mental is believing you can achieve your goal,” he said. “The spiritual is finding what it is that drives you. And the physical is doing it.”

Ewell encouraged Chan to make a list of things she wanted to change in her life. Benchmarks she could check off as she moved toward her goal.

“It’s got to be something deeper than a number on a scale that drives you,” Ewell said.

Chan called her two-page list “Fatitudes, Fears and Frustrations.” Some of the items she’s already checked off:

• She no longer worries about whether she can fit into a booth at a restaurant.

• She’s no longer concerned that plastic lawn chairs will collapse under her.

• She no longer needs to request a seat belt extension on airplanes.

“There are so many negative things on that list that come with being a really heavy woman,” Chan said. “But as I cross them off, I see my mental state changing.”

She is quickly closing in on another goal: being able to shop in the regular-size clothes sections at the mall.

And eventually she’d love to go scuba diving in Hawaii and sit on the beach in a swimsuit.

“I never would have done that before,” she said. “I never would have worn a swimsuit in public, and I wouldn’t fit in a wetsuit.”

As Chan shrinks, her confidence grows, and it’s clear she’s changing more than her body.

At the bottom of her list of goals she writes, “When the time is right and I have transitioned into the new body and have a positive body image of myself, I would like to date. And hopefully be able to share my life with someone special again.”

She’s still busy, working full time and traveling to visit Nakayla in Las Vegas. But these are no longer reasons to interfere with her training.

“We hold on to excuses,” Chan said. “But we need to take the step and push and fight for it.”

The competition at Innovative Fitness has added a dose of extra fun and inspiration to Chan’s workouts of late. Especially since her sister, Anita Baillie, is on a rival team. But regardless of the outcome, she knows the only thing she’ll lose is weight.

“I’m able to look in the mirror now and what I see is not so negative,” Chan said. “I see really positive growth. I still have a big stomach but I’m getting closer to the finish line.”

This is the 10th part in a series on weight loss running March 14-April 10. We will post profiles on South Sound residents having success losing weight the right way. And Fitness Columnist Craig Hill will blog about his attempt to slash his body fat to below 10 percent.

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We admit it. We've got great jobs. How many people get told by their bosses to go out and play? We write about those experiences each Sunday in The News Tribune’s Adventure section. But there's always more to the story. Here, Craig Hill and Jeffrey P. Mayor will share the inside stories on their adventures - including their misadventures - plus post news and answer your questions.

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